Ara was already fed up with Claire's fake tears. She wanted all this drama to be over with. Ara glanced in the direction of the restroom, hoping to see her sister returning, but there was no sign of her. So now, she had to deal with this on her own.
Ara spoke calmly, as if the issue of the masquerade ball was nothing to worry about. "It's alright... I forgive you... Now can you stop crying?" The tears were starting to irritate her. She watched as Claire wiped her tears with the back of her hand. If someone saw Claire, they would think Ara had bullied her.
"Okay, if you've forgiven me... Why not drink from the glass of wine I gave you? It's a peace offering." Claire exclaimed with a pitiful expression.
In Findara, there was a tradition called a peace offering. When someone sought forgiveness, they offered something in return—anything at all. If the person refused the peace offering, it meant they wouldn't forgive, but if they accepted, everything was resolved. That was why Claire had brought the glass of wine as a peace offering for Ara, not knowing that Claire had spiked the drink she was offering.
Ara had no choice but to drink it, or else she wouldn't see the end of this crazy show Claire was putting on. Ara could already see some people looking toward their table. If she refused to drink it, they might mistake her for the bad guy. She stared at the glass suspiciously. However, Ara could not openly reject the offer. She picked up the glass of wine Claire had offered, just wanting to drink it quickly and be done with the distractions.
Claire and her friends were already inwardly rejoicing as they saw Ara pick up the glass of wine. Now this woman would disgrace herself and never show her face in public again. The spotlight would be Claire's alone. She smirked a little at her own thoughts.
Ara held the glass before her mouth, but then... suddenly, she felt someone bump her shoulder forcefully from behind, causing the glass to slip from her hand and hit Claire right on the face, while the wine inside poured all over Claire's body.
Ara quickly turned to see who had pushed her, but the spot behind her was empty. No one at the table saw anybody behind her; only Ara felt it. She turned back to the ladies at the table and saw Claire's head turning red, her face filled with anger. Eleanora and Catherine also looked shocked. To them, it seemed like Ara had purposely thrown the glass at Claire. The guests in the front seats, who had been watching earlier, also looked shocked at the turn of events, and even Ara was a little stunned.
But there was nobody behind her... Who could have pushed her?
Claire's face hardened with anger. "YOU—" she began but quickly swallowed her words when she saw everyone staring at them. This could be another opportunity for her to make Ara look like the bad guy. Claire quickly put on her pitiful expression.
Ara, still shocked, suddenly had a flash of memory. She remembered attending this banquet in her past life alone, without her sister, and going home... drunk? How? She wasn't the type to drink alcohol, which was taboo for a lady... Could Claire have spiked the drink?
Now everything made sense. Claire was trying to make her drink the wine because it was spiked with who-knows-what, to make her do embarrassing things at the banquet and ruin her image in high society. Scenes from the past came rushing back: Ara drinking the wine Claire offered, and then scenes of everyone calling her names.
Ara smirked as she remembered everything that had happened in the past. She turned to see that all eyes were on them.
Claire didn't say anything and continued to shed her fake tears. At that moment, Luanda's angry face appeared from afar. Eleanora and Catherine stood there frozen; they hadn't expected the situation to turn out like this.
Claire quickly took stock of the situation. She didn't understand why Ara threw the glass of wine at her face, but she quickly came up with a new plan as she saw the people in the hall looking at them. She was going to make Ara pay for stealing her spotlight and for ruining her looks and face. The humiliation was too much for her to back down now.
At the sound of Claire's crying, the hall had turned dead silent, but now murmuring voices began to fill the air. Everyone's attention turned to Luanda, who was approaching them to see what was happening.
When Luanda arrived at the scene, she saw her niece crying with a red bump on her forehead, with wine dripping from her face. Claire looked so pitiful. Luanda's face hardened with anger as she looked around at the ladies at the table—Eleanora, Catherine, and Ara. She could see that it was no small issue that Claire, a noble daughter, was crying like that.
"What is going on here? Who did this to her?" asked Luanda with a displeased look on her face.
Claire was the first to answer in a choked voice, "Aunt Luanda... I came to apologize to Lady Ara with a peace offering, for something I did wrong to her, but... She angrily threw the glass at me... I was just..." Claire couldn't finish her words as she continued to cry, her eyes wet with tears as she covered her mouth with both hands. Luanda handed her a handkerchief in an attempt to soothe her.
"Oh, dry your tears, my dear... Stop crying."
"Yes, mother, Lady Ara angrily threw the glass at Claire and said some mean things to her. Claire only meant to apologize with the glass of wine." It was Catherine who spoke, pointing an accusing finger at Ara.
Claire wiped her tears with the handkerchief, then pretended to hold back her sobs, watching as her cousin defended her.
The crowd all turned to Ara. Luanda glared at Ara with a colder look than before.
"Lady Ara, is that true? How could you do such a heartless thing to Claire?" Luanda asked in a cold voice.
Eleanora and Catherine's expressions turned gleeful at the direction the event was heading.
Ara held her ground, even though the people in the hall were looking at her with accusing faces. Then she looked straight at Eleanora, Catherine, and Claire.
The reason she didn't remember this incident was because she was still relatively young at the time. In the future, after experiencing hardships following her family's death, the memory of drinking the spiked wine had faded, which was why she couldn't remember such incidents. Ara wasn't good at defending herself in situations like this. If only she could wield her sword here, she would have made Claire confess to her stupid act without a single hesitation. Then, she would have cut that stupid face of hers just to teach them a lesson about not messing with her ever again. Had that person not pushed her, who knows what situation she might be in now? But who could that person be? She would worry about that later.
However, Ara didn't have the time or strength to explain to all these people what really happened, because she knew they wouldn't believe her over the infamous Luanda's niece. Claire was using her fake tears to play the victim. Ara would deal with her later, but for now, they could believe whatever they wanted.
"You already believe her... So why are you asking me?" Ara's calm question caused the crowd to start murmuring again.
"I told you she did it on purpose, just because I asked her to forgive me," exclaimed Claire with a choked voice.
"Yes, she was jealous of Claire's beauty; that's why she threw the glass at her to ruin her looks," accused Eleanora.
"Oh my! I never knew the young lady of the Boxton family could be so dark-hearted," someone murmured in the crowd.
"Yes, and she looks so innocent; one would never think she had such an evil mind."
"Humph! She was just jealous of the kind and innocent Claire, and here I was comparing them both. She is not even fit to sit close to Claire."
"And look at that dress she's wearing, so old-fashioned. I can't believe I found it beautiful."
The crowd suddenly found Ara distasteful and began spouting hateful words at her. Seeing Claire's pitiful expression, they couldn't help but dislike Ara more, now looking at her as a villainous lady filled with jealousy for Claire.